Other Links

Interview with Virtualisation Entrepreneur Steven Hasani

19 June 2009

An interview with Steven Hasani; self-confessed Technology Entreprenuer and current CEO of the organically grown Application and Desktop Virtualisation Start-up - 'NetLeverage.'

Anthony Sochan: Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your experience as an Entrepreneur in Australia?

Steven Hasani: I came to Australia in 2001 and was working for Motorola for a couple of years as well as on a number of University projects. In 2003 I started NetLeverage.

In the initial years there was a lot of emphasis placed on product development rather than sales and marketing. So it was very much about getting the perception right to make the product acceptable for the market.

AS: How well suited is the Australian market for technology entreprenurs like yourself?

SH: There are the personal aspects to working in Australia, there are very successful entreprenurs who have made it in Sydney. My experience is that overseas it is hard to reach people due to very hierachical structures, in Australia it is very flat. Generally people in Australia are very down to earth, which makes relationship building with Senior Executives easier. I do not believe that I could have had this experience anywhere else in the world, I feel very fortunate.

AS: Australian Technology park (ATP) is a dedicated technology commercialisation centre. What have been the benefits for you basing your business out of ATP?

SH: ATP has given me a lot, if I was to open an office anywhere in the country it is hard to be (physically) around the technology community. The community aspect is great as you have likeminded people around you as well as marketing opportunities such as the ATP Newsletter that goes out to a couple thousand select individuals.

Another example of these benefits working is our partnership with AC3, a company that we have fostered a relationship through the ATP, through AC3 we have learnt to work in the cloud. Also there is Australian Technology Park Innovation (ATPi), 55 startup businesses under ATPi’s roof. They are fantastic in helping growth and leverage joint business opportunities.

AS: Being based out of ATP has its distinct advantages but interestingly you have an engineering team over in Stanford could you tell us about the rationale behind this?

SH: We would not have a company without Stanford, one of the best universities in the world. The approach was very simple: the right development team in Australia could not be found as the spectrum of understanding and knowledge we required did not yet exist in Australia.

Through Stanford we were able to build a team of up to 15 developers. The team we have currently have is young, smart, enthusiastic and to be frank; I am learning a lot from them as they are not afraid to challenge me.

AS: Stanford is obviously a key strategic partner of yours but I understand you place a lot of value on Mentors and Advisors. What has been the key in maximising the value of such relationships in a Startup?

SH: People can make decisions and strategise about what they want to do. But more important than that is being able to communicate what you want to do, then the right people will come to you. If you have a dream and vision, Mentors and Advisors will come around and be attracted to that vision. You need to be honest about what you are personally good at. Work with these skills and leverage them. I believe startups are more about the right people than anything else.

AS: Having entered the Virtualisation space (relatively) early on (2003) have you observed radical evolution over the years?

SH: To be honest I was a little worried that we may have entered the virtualization market too early, and all the evidence suggested that we would fail, because of this I took a very cautious approach. We had built something very early on and it is incredible that prospective customers often make the comment “where have you been," we currently have 12 products in our portfolio but at the moment we only sell one or two. It was the market itself that demonstrated to me when it was the right time to commercialise the product. Now it is about cloud and universal VPN to cloud.

AS: One of Your products DESKTRA has been downloaded over 200,000 times. Could you tell us about this freely downloadable software?

SH: DESKTRA is a free product for non-commercial users that allows you to securely access your windows PC. A decision was made to go worldwide with desktra as we wanted to collate a large amount of user data.  We were targeting this product for a global client base and therefore needed a global audience of people to test our product. As a start-up it would not have been possible for us to make that number of tests in Australia. If you make something free not only does it provide data about how people use a product but also crucially where they stop using the product. The rationale was about providing an accessible solution at a minimal cost to us.

AS: Finally, The economic downturn has obviously triggered a wave of interest in SAAS, Virtualisation and Cloud services – broadly speaking how much growth is there for these services?

SH: Quite simply people don’t want to pay for products but for services, a savvy businessman knows how to turn capex to opex, that then provides a better quality day to day IT experience. You therefore need to look at something as a service rather than a product, Virtualisation and Cloud computing turn products to services and this is the way things are going to continue to go. 

Steven Hasani is the founder, CEO and CTO of Netleverage. If you would like more information about Netleverage please visit http://www.netleverage.com.au/ , for a free personal copy of Desktra please visit http://www.desktra.com/

Written by: Anthony Sochan

Candidate & Client Quotes

• Advisory + M&A